Davide Casaleggio (born 14 January 1976) is an Italian entrepreneur and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

, born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Biography

Davide Federico Dante Casaleggio was born in Milan in 1976 and grew up in Ivrea. After the death of his father Gianroberto, he became

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of Casaleggio Associati srl, an internet and consulting company that advises on innovation strategies, and editor of Beppe Grillo's blog. Since 2016 Casaleggio has become a prominent figure in the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...

, a party which was founded by his father along with

Beppe Grillo Giuseppe Piero "Beppe" Grillo (; born 21 July 1948) is an Italian comedian, actor, blogger, and politician. He has been involved in politics since 2009 as the co-founder (together with Gianroberto Casaleggio) of the Italian Five Star Movement ...

. In the Italian context, Casaleggio has promoted the

Web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

as a medium for political communication and participation. His role in the Five Star Movement has become increasingly important, albeit unofficial. Like his father, he is considered the

grey eminence Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

of the movement. He is president of the Rousseau Association that runs the Rousseau system on which the Five Star Movement members participate and vote. In February 2018, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' dedicated an article to Casaleggio, describing him as a "mystery man who runs the M5S from the shadows." Davide, in June 2021, stepped away from the political party after a settlement. In a note, Davide criticized the situation the party found itself in, and said that "not even my father would recognize this party" as it is today.

References

Sources

*
Five Star Movement
*
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casaleggio, Davide 1976 births Businesspeople from Milan Politicians from Milan Five Star Movement politicians Living people